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August 2, 2014:

WRAPPING MY HEAD AROUND THE DAY

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, this month is flying by, like a gazelle trying to mate with a zebra.  The offspring would, of course, be a gazebra and it would live in a gazebo just west of St. Louis.  That was a little outré even for me.  Well, the first day of August wasn’t so bad once I wrapped my head around it.  I don’t know about you, but I feel it is very important to wrap one’s head around the first day of a month.  I woke up after nine hours, my mind heavy with irritants, but I had two long telephonic conversations, after which I felt much better and at which time I indeed wrapped my head around the day and embraced it with open arms and closed toes.

I had a nice luncheon, consisting of eggs and sausage and rye toast and tomatoes.  And after that lovely luncheon I picked up two count them two packages.  Then I did some banking and finally came home.  I had more telephonic conversations, did some work on the computer, worked out the issue we had with the packaging (it doesn’t happen often, but we had to clear some image usage with an actor’s estate, which we did) and got the go-ahead to announce on Monday, so that’s good.  I did a two-and-a-half mile jog,  and then I sat on my couch like so much fish.

I watched a horrid little something-or-other, thriller I guess – some low budget junk from the year 2000, starring Ryan O’Neal (which is why I watched it).  Obviously they blew their budget on Mr. O’Neal, so the film didn’t even look good and the supporting cast was just horrible.  It was short, so that was a plus.  I also finished watching the Eugene Ormandy DVD, with his splendidly splendid performance of the Rachmaninov second symphony – a beautifully done reading and I’m just loving watching Mr. Ormandy be calm and collected and just doing his job without histrionics on the podium.  And he doesn’t actually have a podium – he conducts without music.  It’s not about him (although it is, in the end), it’s about the music and his getting what he wants out of the orchestra but not in a show-off way for the audience.  The orchestral playing is superb and the symphony itself is one of the most glorious of all symphonies, especially that third movement, which reduces me to mush.  I wonder if Mr. Ormandy knew how many young people he brought to appreciate classical music through his recordings, I being one of them.

After that, I watched a fantastic documentary called Big Boys Gone Bananas – a film about a filmmaker being bullied by Dole foods for his documentary about a Dole lawsuit.  The tactics used by Dole are just horrifying to watch and it’s everything that stinks about the judicial system – the rich being able to control things because they don’t care how much they spend and they know when dealing with people who don’t have the resources to fight that they will win no matter what.  Dole threatens everyone, from the LA Film Festival to the filmmakers themselves and others, that they will be sued if the film is shown.  The media eats it all up and automatically takes the side of Dole because Dole is telling everyone the film is filled with lies and misrepresentations.  They contact everyone, including bloggers.  In the end, the film does get shown at the LA Film Festival but only after a statement is read to the audience about how the film is not truthful.  It’s disgusting.  But because the film company has insurance regarding lawsuits, they are able to fight the good fight and slowly but surely public opinion, especially in the filmmaker’s home country of Sweden, begins to understand that this is about freedom of speech and being bullied.  The filmmaker gets the film shown in parliament in Sweden, and then gets a release in that country.  A year later, Dole withdraws their lawsuit.  Really?  But the filmmakers still need a judgment to present the film in the United States, so they continue on and they get it and Dole is ordered to pay all the legal fees.  So, this one gets a happy ending.  The media, of course, is all over it again, but this time on the filmmakers side – but had they done the least bit of due diligence in the first place they would not have written their initial stories the way they had.  Of course, they never apologize for anything, they just go the way the wind is blowing.  Journalism, I’m afraid, is at its nadir.  This is highly recommended by the likes of me and you can find it on Netflix.

After that, I listened to some more Ormandy on CD – I’d gotten another box set, this a mix of the Columbia and RCA recordings.  And that was fascinating – while Ormandy’s musicianship is never in question, nor is the playing by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the difference in sonics and recording are huge – the Columbia stuff sounds amazing, and the RCA stuff sounds distant and has no life or detail.  What a difference a producer and recording engineer make.  I’m hoping it isn’t the case for all the RCA recordings, but it certainly has been thus far. My favorite discovery of the evening was the marvelously marvelous Prokofiev first symphony – all thirteen minutes of it.  But what he packs into those thirteen minutes is just pure delight.  And happily, it’s a Columbia recording from the 1960s and sounds absolutely amazing.

Today, I shall jog, I shall relax, then we have our stumble-through, and then I’ll go and have something light but amusing to eat, and perhaps pick up some packages.

Tomorrow is sound check and show and I will, of course, have a complete report for you.  Monday we announce our new title, and I have to finish choosing the material for the September anniversary show, gather the music and get it to the singers.  I also have meetings and meals, a couple of things to see, and then we have our second and final pick-up session for And the World Goes Round.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, do some banking, hopefully pick up some packages, have a stumble-through and eat.  Today’s topic of discussion: What classical concerts have you attended and which were your favorites and why?  Also, have you had a less than thrilling concert experience and, if so, why?  Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland after which I shall wrap my head around another day.

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